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Psychological Age

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development

Synonyms

Age-equivalent; Age-related attitudes; Developmental Age; Maturity

Definition

Psychological age refers to the subjective age-equivalent of a person or how old one feels.

Description

Psychological age is how old one feels, acts, and behaves, and is thus not necessarily equal to chronological age, which is age since birth [1]. A person can therefore have a psychological age that exceeds their chronological age if they are mature or at least feel older than they really are. For example, this may be common in adolescence when young teens that feel older than they really are engage in behaviors typical of late teens and early adults. There is some indication that social maturity and achievement motivation in teens which could be associated with an advanced psychological age, for example, is associated with a parenting environment that is authoritative, emotionally warm, democratic, and firm. On the negative side, teens feeling older than they are may get involved in risk-taking...

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References

  1. Psychological age test: http://en.nienteansia.it/tests/mental-age-test.html

  2. Kolodinsky, J., Cranwell, M., & Rowe, E. (2002). Bridging the generation gap across the digital divide: Teens teaching internet skills to senior citizens. Journal of Extension, 40.

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  3. Smith, T. W. (1994). Generational differences in music preferences. Popular Music and Society, 18, 43–59.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Acadia University, Horton Hall, Wolfville, ON, B4P 2R6, Canada

    Douglas K. Symons

Authors
  1. Douglas K. Symons
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Douglas K. Symons .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neurology, Learning and Behavior Center, 230 South 500 East, Suite 100, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84102, USA

    Sam Goldstein Ph.D.

  2. Department of Psychology MS 2C6, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Jack A. Naglieri Ph.D. (Professor of Psychology) (Professor of Psychology)

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Symons, D.K. (2011). Psychological Age. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2298

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2298

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-77579-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79061-9

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

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